- About 75% of AMC’s trading volume is off-exchange, hiding retail demand and favoring institutional dark-pool activity.
- Retail investors believe heavy dark trading suppresses true price momentum, fueling calls for regulator scrutiny and transparency.
In the world of Hollywood blockbusters, where spotlights chase drama on the silver screen, AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. has long been a favorite underdog story.
But off the big screen, in the opaque corners of Wall Street’s trading venues, a quieter plot twist is unfolding—one that’s leaving everyday investors feeling like extras in their own movie.
Recent data reveals that a staggering 75.24% of AMC’s trading volume is occurring off-exchange, meaning just a quarter of the stock’s activity is visible on public “lit” exchanges like the NYSE.
The FrankNez Media Daily Briefing newsletter provides all the news you need to start your day. Sign up here.
This imbalance, critics argue, is masking genuine demand from retail traders and tilting the scales toward institutional players who thrive in the shadows.
The numbers come straight from ChartExchange, a platform that tracks exchange and dark pool volumes for stocks like AMC (NYSE: AMC).
Dark pools—private trading forums often used by big funds to execute massive orders without tipping off the market—have become a flashpoint for AMC’s die-hard community, known as “Apes.”
On October 13, for instance, 69% of the day’s volume, or nearly 10 million shares, vanished into off-exchange trades, according to posts from traders monitoring real-time data.
Over the past 30 days, the average has hovered around 59%, with spikes as high as 63% on record-volume days like October 10, where over 16.9 million shares traded in the dark.
For context, this dwarfs the off-exchange activity of peers in the entertainment sector. Cinemark Holdings (CNK), another major theater chain, saw just 36.69% of its volume go off-exchange on the same day, per trader-shared metrics.
“Same industry. Same market. Different rules,” one X user lamented in a post.
The disparity isn’t lost on retail investors, who point out that healthy off-exchange levels typically range from 10% to 20% for most stocks.
Anything higher, they say, smells like suppression—keeping buy pressure hidden and prices artificially low.
This isn’t a new grievance for AMC holders. Back in September 2023, data showed more than 50% of the stock trading off-exchange, prompting questions about whether it was dampening the “true demand” from individual buyers.
Fast-forward to June 2025, and Reddit threads were buzzing with reports of 70% off-exchange volume amid unusually low lit-exchange activity—sometimes as little as 4 million shares total on days when tiny trades swung the price by 5%.
“Volume of 10 shares moves the stock over 5%… AMC hits 86% off-exchange volume today,” one Redditor vented, capturing the frustration of watching potential momentum get buried.
The mechanics here are straightforward but infuriating for the little guy. When retail orders—think your Robinhood app buys—get routed through brokers, up to 90-95% never hit the lit exchanges, as SEC Chair Gary Gensler noted in 2023 testimony.
Gensler himself called dark pools an “unfair advantage” for institutions, admitting that combined retail power could “have significant price impact” if it surfaced publicly.
For AMC, where retail investors hold majority of the shares, that hidden volume means the enthusiasm fueling Reddit’s r/amcstock or X hashtags like #ApesTogetherStrong isn’t fully reflected in the ticker tape. Instead, it’s funneled into venues where hedge funds can unload positions quietly, away from prying eyes.
AMC Entertainment Today
It’s a setup that echoes the meme-stock saga of 2021, when AMC’s shares rocketed from $2 to over $72 on a wave of retail fervor, squeezing shorts and saving the chain from bankruptcy.
Most of you know my work from this time — I was the only media publisher presenting the data as a ‘buy’ signal when AMC stock was $6 while legacy media attempted to distort public perception.
I’m proud to say years later, we ended up winning.
CEO Adam Aron leaned into the moment, launching “AMC Investor Connect” to offer his new fanbase with perks like free popcorn and exclusive screenings.
“We’re one of the few companies on the New York Stock Exchange where individual retail investors are clearly in control,” he boasted at the time.
But four years later, as the stock languishes around $2.83—down 29.60% year-to-date—the glow has somewhat faded.
Aron’s recent moves, like overseeing a January 2025 stock sale that raised $184 million from 50 million shares, have drawn fire for diluting value, even as he insists it’s “absolutely vital” for cash reserves.
Searches through Aron’s X posts and earnings calls turn up bullish chatter about summer blockbusters like Minecraft and Sinners as well as defenses of dilution as a lifeline.
But on dark pools? Nothing, and it has many retail investors truly concerned.
No fiery tweet calling out the imbalance, no earnings slide breaking down how hidden trades might be capping upside. “I understand that it hurts,” Aron wrote in January, acknowledging retail pain from price drops. He even touted his own stake—722,820 shares, plus 1.2 million more vesting soon—as proof he’s in the trenches as the “largest retail investor.”
But for many Apes, that’s not enough. “Not our problem,” Aron once quipped in 2023 about broader manipulation claims.
Retail Investors Deserve More
The silence stings because AMC’s retail army has been the company’s secret weapon. They’ve stuck through a 90% drop over the past year, a post-pandemic debt hangover, and streaming giants like Netflix siphoning viewers.
In April, Aron hyped a “deluge of big movie titles” for summer 2025, signaling optimism as theaters claw back market share.
But if over 75% of the trading stays dark, that recovery narrative feels incomplete.
Regulators aren’t blind to this. Retail investors continue to scrutinize agencies such as the SEC, FINRA, DTCC, and even our current administration.
For now, though, AMC traders are left piecing it together themselves, armed with ChartExchange dashboards and X threads.
“They’re burying real demand while we keep buying,” one post declared last week.
“Still think AMC is ‘dead’? It’s not dead. It’s suppressed.”
As Hollywood preps for its next act, AMC’s off-screen drama raises a bigger question: In a market where retail owns the plot, but institutions hold the editing room, can the Apes force a rewrite?
For now, they’re not leaving.
Also Read: AMC CEO Adam Aron Now Claims Major Box Office Victory
Follow us on X: @NezMediaCompany
